Fly Fishing - 5 Ways to Locate the Best Spot

Every town has one: the old man who knows every secret of the rivers and streams in the area, who never goes home with an empty catch box, who is sought out by fishing-lovers from all around.

Part of what makes him so great: he's learned to read the water, identifying the places fish cluster and knowing where, on the river, he's most likely to find those places. Here are five tried-and-true methods for finding the best places in the river to drop a line, even if you've never been there before. Be ready to cut some line, though, because a few of them will get you snagged before you locate the sweet spot filled with tonight's dinner.

1. Old logs and debris. Your fish love to hide in places with lots of debris - so eddy pools where brush and branches are swept by the current are fantastic. This is one of the places you need to be ready to cut line, though; there's a good chance, when casting in this area, that you'll be snagging on wood instead of getting a bite. It's better to be in close to these spots than on the other side of the bank for this reason. And because these areas tend to be relatively noisy underwater, being close to your fish here is not likely to spook them.

2. "Buggy" areas are the very best places to find your fish. When you're fly-fishing, after all, you're trying to convince the fish that the lure you're casting out is a fly - so it stands to reason that your fish are going to cluster beneath real flies. It's hard to see swarms of bugs out on the water, especially at high-sun hours, so pick up a good pair of polarized sunglasses to cut the glare. As an added advantage, those polarized sunglasses will also cut the glare from the water's surface, enabling you to spot other submerged features and even the moving shapes of your prey. For large bodies of water that allow for a long cast, polarized binoculars (or even regular binoculars) can be helpful in spotting those areas.

3. Calm pools near fast water with lots of bubbles are ideal. This means eddy pools (again) near waterfalls, near rapids, or in fast-moving waters after a good flood. Remember, your fish need three things to do well: a hiding place, a good source of flies for food, and lots of oxygen. These calm pools tend to be well-aerated due to the nearby rapids, while also providing plenty of places to hide in calm areas.

4. Areas rich in willows and other semi-aqueous vegetation (especially during high-water times). These are prime spots for aqueous bugs like mosquitoes to lay their eggs, providing your fish with an underwater source of food as well as lots of flies above the water. These are also snag-prone areas, unfortunately, so go in close when you're fishing here. Spring floods and other high-water times are even better times, as you tend to get a spike in the bug population as well as more new places for your fish to explore.

5. Boat docks, tree roots, and submerged water features with hiding places, like near big rocks and boulders, are great. Always watching for that snagging problem, fish these up close or from a distance.

The best areas are those that provide fish shelter, calm water, oxygen, and plenty of bugs, but you also don't want too many bugs. Hit your most promising spots early in the day, when the sun is low (for less glare) and the fish are hungriest, and the bugs are just starting to swarm.